Altering History
by noob7
Summary: Old Hubba is able to take the heroes of the past, place them in a different timeline from history, and create different scenarios for them to fight against each other. With his grandson being totally against the practice, he makes a deal: side with one to defeat the other, and a hero will help their army. The deal is made, but how will it all end? Only time will tell...
1. King vs King: Marth vs Celice

**A/N: Here's to prove that I survived 12/21/12! (Just kidding) Okay, to clear some things up first: this is an alternate timeline for Genealogy and Shadow Dragon and corresponds to the DLC episode in Awakening. Those who have played those games will realize what's different. I'd say what they are, but I don't want to spoil anything. I think that's about it...so, um, yeah. Enjoy!**

* * *

The day began as it normally would. The sun would slowly rise above the horizon, changing the sky into an explosion of radiant colors. The shadows of the dark would be chased away by the light until the sun was fully high up in the sky. To most, this was the normal beginning of the day, but for some certain individuals, this day would hardly be normal.

A wyvern and its rider raced swiftly through the mountain passes of the land, trying to conceal themselves in the shadows. Once they were sure that no one could be able to see them from this distance, they took to the skies once more. The rider steered the wyvern onto an air current to gain more speed in the hopes of getting back to the camp as quickly as possible. The rider's name was Altena, the young princess of Leonster. As of late, there were rumors about an upcoming invasion of the entire continent of Jugdral, and unfortunately, those rumors had come true. Mysterious people have begun to come up, conducting uprisings on some of the major cities in the kingdoms. Also, many reports have come in, saying that the invaders just appeared from no where, making their way towards Grannvale. Their numbers weren't large enough for an army, but they looked fierce, which caused much restlessness in everyone. Their reasons for invading were unknown, but since no one knew anything about their origins, they deemed these individuals to be most likely dangerous. In response, the kingdoms of Jugdral came together to form their own army and traveled to Grannvale in the hopes of meeting these unexplainable people. Altena opted to be sent out as a scout, despite her parents' advising against it, to learn more about them. Sure enough, she managed to find them already in battle formation, and was now quickly retreating back to her own side to share her information. There was something…very off about these recent events. Why now, would an unknown continent choose _theirs_ to invade, and with so little numbers? World domination? Also, how was her uncle Sigurd able to compile his friends, families, and even foes into one diverse army? She felt that there was more to this invasion that met the eye.

Relief coursed over Altena when the main camp came into sight. Her mission was successfully completed and she slowly began to descend from the skies. As soon as she landed, Sigurd, her aunt Deirdre, her parents Quan and Ethlyn, her cousin Seliph, and her brother Leif surrounded her.

"Altena, thank goodness you've come back alive." Quan said. "We were starting to fear the worst."

"Oh Alty, you're not hurt, are you?" Ethlyn asked as she ran her hands up and down her daughter's frame in search of possible wounds.

"I'm fine, Mother." Altena responded rather stiffly. When she was able to get a little more space, she turned to face Sigurd. "Uncle Sigurd, I've found the intruders. I've also gathered much information about their group."

"I see." He replied, stroking his chin. "Anything worth noting?"

"Well, they number less than ten with a blue-haired man leading them. But there's a certain aura to them that makes it seem like they're stronger than they look. I can't quite place my finger on it…"

"Okay. Is there anything urgent?"

"I'm not sure…when I found them, they looked like they were about to conduct a raid."

Looks of concern crossed everyone's features.

"Now? At this time?" Leif nearly shouted. "But…why?"

"Leif, calm yourself." Quan chided his son. "All of us are just in the dark about this. But if they're going to fight, then we'll need to be prepared."

"Your father is right, Leif." Deirdre agreed. "We'll find out more as time goes on, but for now it's best to focus on what is happening right now."

"Father," Seliph spoke up. "I think we should call a war council. There's no telling what these people have in mind."

"Hm…" Sigurd thought it over. "Yes…if they're planning to attack, then we'll need to plan a course of action. We'll start with Altena's information and go from there. Once we know what the plans are, we will get moving."

Everyone nodded their heads in agreement and began to disperse to go gather everyone up for the meeting. Sigurd and Deirdre, however, stayed behind.

"Are you all right, Sigurd?" Deirdre asked her husband with concern.

Sigurd sighed. "I'm fine, it's just…I just can't comprehend all of this. Why now would someone choose to attack an entire continent? I know not one thing about these people, what their intentions are, or how well they are able to fight…it's unsettling me."

The white-haired woman frowned and placed a hand on his shoulder. "We just have to do what we can for now…until we can get answers. Just be careful."

"True…" Sigurd clasped her hand with his. "There's no sense in siting here, wondering what can happen. Right, let's get going. The sooner we can get through this…the sooner we can be done with it…"

* * *

Meanwhile on the opposite side of the land, a young king named Marth stood in front of his group, anxiously clenching his fists together. He found himself unable to squelch the feeling of dread in his stomach. He didn't know how he and his group had gotten here; all he knew was that tensions were running high in his continent concerning a man named Seliph, "the Earl of Light" as they called him. The rumors said that his continent Jugdral was planning to conduct a wide-scale attack on Archanea to gain more power. Already, there were some people from there who had tried executing many attacks on the Archanean capitals. Why they would do this, Marth could not wrap his mind around, but having experienced invasions before, he couldn't risk this threat. He didn't know Seliph personally, but for some reason he felt this man would indeed be his enemy. Marth sighed and lowered his head to stare at his feet. To him, invading another continent to protect his didn't seem right. If anything, it seemed way below his character. But those intense rumors and an urge to fight and kill Seliph before disaster could happen to his kingdom, invading seemed the right thing to do. Marth looked up to examine his team. Looking at them, he wondered why some of them were motivated to accompany him. He knew Caeda's reason: she'd always stay by his side, Ogma was there to protect her obviously, Merric was his best friend, Linde wanted to accompany Merric, and Navarre, per Caeda's request, had come as well. For Tiki, he didn't know why someone as innocent as her would choose to get herself entangled in these affairs; the same thing with Nyna. But Gharnef? He was pretty sure he defeated the dark sorcerer, but now he was back and wanting to fight on _his_ side? It made no sense whatsoever. A wyvern's war echoed across the land, catching Marth's attention quickly. Minerva, the princess of Macedon, was coming back from a scouting mission. She descended slowly until she was on the ground, but still remained in the saddle.

"Lord Marth," Minerva began. "The enemy has begun its march. Here is a map of the formation they're in."

"Thank you, Minerva." Marth replied as he accepted the map from her. Everyone left their positions to get a closer look at what they were up against.

"The red ones are the enemy?" Tiki asked.

"Yes. And it looks like they've got some well-placed soldiers as well."

"There's so many…" Caeda went pale.

"More fun for me then." Gharnef snickered, to which everyone gave him an awkward stare.

Merric shook his head. "So how are we going to put up a fight with these numbers? If it's just us ten, then we might as well forget about it before we get our heads cut off."

"Merric…" Linde started, but Nyna placed a hand on her shoulder, silencing her.

"He makes a valid point." She said. "If we just charge them head-on, it would be suicide."

"Then how are we supposed to…"

"Mar-Mar?" Tiki suddenly interjected. "Up there, in the sky."

Marth followed her finger with his eyes and indeed saw something moving. As it got closer, it was a Pegasus, and on further observation, it wasn't an enemy. It was…Catria.

"King Marth! Commander!" Catria beckoned down to them.

"Catria!" Marth and Minerva shouted back.

Catria landed and dismounted quickly and ran to meet her allies.

"Catria, you're here too?" Minerva asked with disbelief.

"Yes. We…don't exactly know how we got here, but we did follow you."

"We?" Caeda inquired.

"Yes. I and some others are here too to help out."

"Who's in your team?" Marth asked.

"There's me, along with Katarina, Norne, Etzel, Horace, Malice, Athena, Legion, and Hardin."

Marth eye's widened. "Legion and Hardin are here too? What in…"

Catria closed her eyes and shook her head. "We don't understand it either, sire. But we are stationed in many areas across the land for your assistance. Just tell us what to do."

"We better hurry." Ogma spoke. "The enemy is approaching as we speak."

Marth nodded and, with newfound confidence, brandished his sword and held it high.

"Archaneans, back to formation. Prepare for battle!"

Everyone gave a triumphant shout and immediately took to their positions. They began to march towards the opposing army, but even though their chances of surviving had just risen, that feeling of dread never left Marth's stomach.

* * *

"Interesting. Yes, very interesting indeed."

"I've always wanted to know what would happen should these two ever meet on the battlefield. Now we can see who will come out stronger."

"Anna? Grandfather?"

The two individuals, a young woman and an old man, jolted from their positions and turned to face a young man. Their expressions relaxed when they recognized his face.

"Ah, Edith." The old man said. "You startled me so."

"What are you two doing?" Edith asked as he walked closer. "Anna, we were looking for you and…oh, not this again…"

Anna looked at the tactician with the eyes of a guilty child. "What? I was just curious. You said your grandfather can alter history, so I wanted to see what he had in store."

"Yes." The old man added. "Edith, did you know Anna has special powers with time as well? She…"

"You're getting off the subject, Grandfather." Edith shook his head. "You promised me you wouldn't do this again. Remember what happened last time you 'played' with your talismans? They fell into the wrong hands, and we had to get rid of them all…thrice."

"Well for someone who has amnesia, you seem to remember some things pretty clearly." The elder muttered.

"Grandfather…"

"Listen to me, lad. You don't seem to quite understand the concept of history, which is understandable considering you haven't inherited these traits yet. There are many, actually infinite numbers of possibilities that branch off from original timelines. Combining one of the useless branches with another one isn't going to alter anything."

"You don't know that."

"Oh, but I do. This practice has been exercised in our family for generations. Once you inherit the skill, you can also do this as well."

"I'll be fine if I never inherit it, thanks." Edith sighed. "I'm just saying, it seems really dangerous. History is a delicate thing. For all we know, one little glitch in the past can forever alter the present. It could destroy life as we know it!"

"Bah, you sound like your grandmother, you know that?" The old man rolled his eyes. "Edith, you say it like I don't know what I'm doing, or I'm just very reckless. Why do you think I became a historian in my younger years? So I'll know what to be careful about. All you do is take the worthless factors, add some variables into the equation, and then sit back and enjoy the end results, WHICH will have no significance to the original timeline whatsoever. It's practically harmless."

Edith bit his tongue to prevent something obscene from coming out of his mouth. Instead he replied, "So…who are the victims this time?"

"Why don't you come see for yourself?" The old man grinned and handed over an orb to his grandson. Edith stared hard into the sphere until he could properly get a glimpse of what was happening in there.

"Seliph, the Earl of Light, and Marth, the Kind King of Archanea." Edith stated. "I don't know where you get these kinds of ideas, Grandfather."

The old man smiled with pride. "Don't underestimate your grandfather, Edith. Oh, by the way…I have a deal I'd like to work out with you."

Edith cringed. "What sort of deal…?"

"Actually, it was my idea." Anna chirped as she scooted closer to them. "Your old man told me that you have always been against him testing out the possibilities of history. Obviously, you can't stop him from experimenting, and likewise he can't stop you from getting in his way. So I came up with this: you join up with one of the talismans and help him or her come out victorious in battle and in return, your grandfather will grant you a talisman to help us in our battles."

"No!" Edith exclaimed. "Absolutely not. I will not be a factor in one of Grandfather's experiments!"

"Aw c'mon, Edi. What can possibly be so wrong about this?"

"Many things! For one, getting rid of the talismans is no easy task. Some of them are way stronger than we are and we could get killed."

"If that happens, I can just alter history to bring you back to life." The old man cut in.

Edith ignored him and continued, "Also, I can tell these talismans have feelings. Grandfather, they may be your 'little playthings', but they are still humans. When we fought them those last three times, I could see the pain, guilt, and confusion tormenting them. You forced lovers to fight against lovers, families to fight against families. It felt so wrong!"

"Edi, Edi, Edi…" Anna wagged her finger in his face. "You focus too much on the negatives that you miss the positives. Yes, it's hard work, but this is a good way for us to get experience! Maybe it does cause the talismans pain, but they won't remember a thing after the battle! Besides, the more people we have in our army, the better…right?"

Edith found himself in a difficult position. Anna's argument was valid, but having to fight more unnecessary battles...he couldn't imagine what it could do to someone's wellbeing.

"Think of it as a stimulation." His grandfather added. "It feels like you're fighting a significant battle, when you're really not."

"Yeah, only I can die in this 'stimulation.'" Edith muttered. "I…I have to do what's best for the army. Um…"

"Maybe this will compensate for those last times." The old man reached into his pouch and pulled out three talismans: Marth, Roy, and Micaiah. Edith took them and stared at them skeptically.

"You're actually entrusting me with these?"

"Of course. It's in your blood after all, whether you like it or not." The elder chuckled rather sinisterly. "Besides, there's many more where that came from."

Edith silently growled under his breath as he angrily shoved the talismans into his pocket. Finally, he gave in to his grandfather's request.

"We have a deal." He forced every word out and shook his grandfather's bony hand.

"Splendid!" The old man clapped his hands together and ruffled Edith's platinum blonde hair, much to the young man's annoyance. "I knew you'd come around eventually. I know this will be an interesting variable in my experiments."

"Whatever." Edith mumbled. "Come on, Anna."

"Wait…what?!" Anna gasped. "Why do I have to go?"

"Because this will be a team effort, which includes you as well. Also, this was YOUR idea. No turning back; tactician's orders."

Anna stood there defeated, but then immediately took up a defiant stance and glared at Edith in his eyes. "And what if I say 'no?'" She challenged.

Edith didn't even blink. "Then I will complain about you to Tiki. As far as I'm aware, she tried to eat you once, did she not?"

Anna grit her teeth and stomped out of the room steaming. Edith allowed a smirk to appear. "I'll take that as a 'yes.'"

"You should run along now." Edith's grandfather chimed in. "The battle is about to begin. Wouldn't want to miss it now, would we?"

Edith's amused expression quickly faded and replaced with an irritated yet anxious one. "If something goes wrong, it'll be by your hands."

"Duly noted." The old man watched amusedly as his grandson walked out, then returned to his orb. "Only time will tell…"

* * *

Silence. Just dead silence filled the air. The atmosphere was filled with tension as the two armies stood unwavering to each other. Marth looked at the overwhelming amount of soldiers in front of him and prayed that somehow, this could all be resolved. He turned away from them only to address his own soldiers.

"We don't know how strong they are." He said in a soft voice. "Nor do we know what kinds of people they are. Do not fight until I give the order. I want to see the man I came here looking for."

The group replied with a silent nod, and Marth turned around, took a deep breath, and began to walk forward by himself. He could feel all eyes on him, but he wouldn't allow that to fluster him.

"Marth…don't let your guard down." Merric sighed.

"That must be their leader." Quan murmured to Sigurd. "I wonder what he wants."

"A tiny lad, ain't he?" Arden whispered over to Jamke and Lewyn. "Not very menacing at all. Hard to believe a man like him would dare take on an entire…ouch, Lewyn!"

"You talk too loud, Arden." Lewyn scolded the armor-knight.

Sigurd said nothing and narrowed his eyes as the blue-haired king drew nearer. When he was about in the middle of the space between them, he stopped. He could hear murmurs coming from both in front and behind him, but he paid them no mind.

"He's up to something." Leif seethed. "I can just feel it."

"Leif, try not to get so worked up." Nanna tried to soothe him, but she could tell, by the way his shoulders were tensed up, that he couldn't calm down now.

Seliph kept his eyes fixed on Marth before turning to Sigurd. "Father, let me go talk to him."

"What?!" Sigurd asked, shocked.

"Seliph, no!" Deirdre exclaimed. "That man could be dangerous."

"No." Seliph shook his head. "There's something about him that leads me to believe he's chivalrous. I doubt he'd attack me if I showed no aggression. Please, Father."

Sigurd looked doubtful at his son, but heard a soft chuckle next to him. He could see Ethlin trying to stifle her laughs.

"What's so funny, Ethlin?" He asked, a little vexed at his sister's behavior. "You're usually more serious than this."

"Sorry, Brother." Ethlin smirked. "The way he talks and acts…kind of reminds me of you."

Sigurd stared at her for a bit, but sighed and found himself smiling as well. "Is that so? Well…I was wanting to talk to their leader myself. Seliph?"

"Yes, Father?"

"…be careful."

Seliph traded gazes with his father, but then gave him a confident grin before marching down to meet Marth. All eyes were on Seliph now as he walked by himself towards the enemy.

"What in the world is Seliph doing?!" Larcei exclaimed to Ulster.

"That must be who Marth was talking about." Caeda mumbled.

"Seliph, please be careful." Julia prayed.

"Minervie, what's happening?" Tiki whispered to Minerva.

Like Marth, Seliph ignored the chatter around him and focused solely on Marth. When they stood face-to-face, all the chattering on both sides suddenly stopped, and silence once again filled the air. Finally, Seliph initiated the conversation: "So…this is the one whom Jugdral has been on the edge about."

Marth snorted, but then took control over himself. "Is that so? You don't get visitors often?"

"Nobody from your origins, that's for sure. Who are you?"

"I am Marth, King of Archanea. You?"

"My name is Seliph, son of Sigurd, the King of Chalphy. I apologize if this comes off as offensive, but many people have grown apprehensive since you came. If I may ask, what is your business here?"

"Uh…" Marth clenched his fists. How was he going to tell Seliph that he was going to fight him? "You…you don't seem like a bad man."

Seliph raised an eyebrow. "You've heard something of me in your continent?"

Marth didn't answer.

"…King Marth?"

Marth was tied. He didn't want to fight Seliph, whom didn't seem to have any ill intentions. But then he recalled the tensions that were going on in his home continent and he instinctively brought his hand to the hilt of his sword.

"I should probably be asking you what business you have with _my_ continent." Marth muttered.

"W-What do you mean?" Seliph asked, now confused and concerned.

"My people claimed that a man went power-hungry and would lead a full-on attack on Archanea; that man is you, Lord Seliph. Already people from your continent have been causing mini uprisings in the kingdoms, wreaking havoc and fear in the kingdoms and citizens."

Seliph was taken aback by this statement. Someone had said that about him? "I…I have no such intentions. Rather I think it is _you_ who went power-hungry."

"Me?!"

"Yes." Seliph glared at him. "There's no need to explain is there? Ever since you popped up here, rumors sprouted up saying that you are going to attack and conquer Jugdral. So far people from your continent have already tried to take over some of the capitals. I now have reason to believe those rumors."

Marth glared back. "Heh, I've been accused of being blinded by ambition before. But I only want to protect my people."

"And you think that's best by starting a war?"

"I do not want to fight you, Lord Seliph. As I said, I don't have these insane plans on world domination. I only want to protect my people from invasions…and I intend to stop it at the source."

"You and I share the same insights." Seliph muttered, starting to unsheathe his sword. "But in order for that to happen, one of us has to fall."

Marth felt his heart drop seeing that there was no going back now, then unsheathed his own sword. Suddenly, as if predicting the other's move, the two kings clashed their swords together.

"Archaneans! Attack!" Marth shouted.

"Everybody, charge!" Sigurd bellowed.

The two armies collided in a rush of fury and exhilaration. Arrows and magic spells sailed through the air, wyvern and Pegasus riders tried to knock each other out of the skies, the once calm land was now a chaotic battlefield. The fight had begun and how it would end…

* * *

The old man smiled as he watched through the orb. "Only time will tell…"


	2. King vs King: Marth vs Celice Part 2

**A/N: Beware: heavy spoilers for Awakening from here on out. But if you don't care about that, then feel free to continue reading!**

* * *

After about ten minutes of fighting in an unorganized manner, both leaders were able to get their own armies into a more strategized formation. However, it was already clear that Sigurd had the upper-hand: Caeda, Tiki, Merric, and Nyna were defeated in the chaos, Ogma and Navarre died not too long after trying to fight Ayra, Larcei, Ulster, and Mareeta at the same time, Linde was caught in a blast of magic from Arthur that was meant for Marth, Minerva was stabbed in the chest by Altena and fell from her saddle, and Gharnef was slayed by the combined efforts of Julius and Arvis. The remaining survivors on Marth's side had separated into two groups widely spread out from each other. This was highly beneficial for Sigurd's battalion.

"With most of their soldiers decimated and their forces divided, there's no way they can fight back now." Quan mused to Sigurd.

Sigurd smiled at this. "Then all that's left for us to do is take care of the remaining numbers. Leif will take one group to the middle to deal with the enemies over there, Seliph and some others will be stationed towards the south fort to act as reinforcements, and the rest of us here will handle the rest."

Quan nodded and turned to Jugdral's army. "You all have your orders! Move out!"

Everyone responded with a loud shout in unison and wished their families and lovers good luck before getting in their respective groups. Seliph caught a glimpse of Marth and couldn't help but feel a little bit of remorse for him. The prince was only trying to protect his people and ended up losing half of his comrades all at once. Then Seliph thought of his own people and decided that this was all for the best. If peace could only be obtained by bloodshed, then he wouldn't back down now. At that moment, a strange feeling began to churn in his stomach, and he started to sense that this fight would take an unexpected turn for the worse.

"Leif!" Seliph called out to his cousin.

"Huh?" Leif raised an eyebrow. "Seliph, what's the matter? Is it anything important?"

"I…" Seliph bit his tongue and shook his head. "Just…be careful out there, Leif. We may have the advantage right now, but there's no telling what could happen."

Leif stared at the blue-haired man for a long time, but gave him a confident smirk. "You're nervous aren't you, Seliph? Don't be so. We _will_ win."

Seliph sighed. "I sure hope so, Leif. I sure hope so…"

* * *

Marth absolutely hated how all of his emotions clashed together at once, which was exactly why he hated fighting. His lover and all of his friends died at once, and he could do nothing about it. At the moment, he just wanted to draw his sword and kill as many enemies as he could before being taken down by them. But even that wouldn't have satisfied his anger. Nevertheless, Marth knew he had to restrain himself and conceal his emotions to avoid making reckless decisions.

"If that even matters now." Marth muttered under his breath. "This battle may as well be lost."

"Lord Marth?"

Marth glanced over to Catria, whom also looked rather somber after seeing her commander die. "What is it, Catria?"

"What…what are we going to do from here?"

Marth sighed and looked down at the ground. "I don't know. I'm sorry…I got you all wrapped into this. I thought we could actually put up a fight, but…we were overpowered so easily. There's nothing we can do now."

"There has to be something." Hardin said. "You have Falchion, I have Gradivus. We may not have the numbers, but we may have a chance with our sacred weapons."

Norne nodded. "We just had a weak start, but we can't let that faze us. We have to continue on with our mission. Please, Lord Marth?"

The young king looked at them with melancholy eyes and almost felt his heart shatter. They all depended on him, but he knew he couldn't protect them, nor their comrades. He failed as a leader, couldn't give them hope even if he wanted to. Marth was about to reply when he caught sight of something: an enemy group coming their way.

"Into the forest over there." Marth silently commanded. "The enemy is upon us."

His group agreed and quickly retreated to conceal themselves in the thick patch of foliage. Once he was sure everyone was hidden, Marth craned his neck forward to see his pursuers: they were a small group whose leader appeared to be a brown-haired man in white armor. The brunette was conversing with a blonde-haired woman, so Marth leaned in a little further to hear what they were talking about.

"Lord Leif, what is it?" the woman asked.

"I could have sworn he went this way." The man, whom Marth now identified as "Leif," responded. "Damn, I wonder where they could have possibly run off to."

Marth allowed a bitter smile to form when he heard this. If Leif would bring the fighting into the forest, at least the branches would be good for staying hidden. Then Hardin tapped his finger on Marth's shoulder to get his attention.

"We could attack them now in their confused state." He suggested.

Marth thought it over, but shook his head. "If we attack them, we may be able to take them all down, but that would only spawn Lord Seliph's reinforcements from the south."

Hardin nearly scoffed, but even he had to agree that killing them all off at once would lead to even more soldiers taking their place.

"Lord Marth, I agree that we should wait to attack," Catria whispered, "but then again, we can't hide in here forever. I doubt our enemies would just give up and leave. Besides, some of our allies are still out in the open and they'll eventually need our aid."

Marth inhaled and exhaled deeply. "Yes, that is true. Okay, we'll try and see what we can do for now. Even though we can hardly pose a challenge to them in this state, we can still at least try to survive long enough to come up with a plan."

Everyone nodded and started to think about ways for them to prepare for their next skirmish. All the while though, they could not stop worrying for their fellow comrades all the way across the land.

* * *

"General Horace…" Katarina spoke up. "The enemy seems to have spotted us."

"Already, huh?" Horace massaged his temples. "We had better be prepared then. A battle is about to be upon us."

"There's no way we can defend ourselves like this." Etzel said, anxiously twisting his wife's ring around his finger. "Especially since we got separated from the others."

"Do ve even know vether or not they survived?" Athena inquired. "Most of our numbers already died after that last skirmish."

"I reckon they survived." Malice responded, unsheathing her sword. "If they didn't, we would've found out about it by now."

Etzel would have added something, but the sound of thundering footsteps drawing near caught everyone's attention. Some enemy soldiers began to take shape, and everyone knew it was only a matter of seconds before disaster struck.

"Formation!" Horace shouted.

"Legion, what's the matter?" Katarina noticed beads of sweat dripping from the masked man's hair.

"Ugh! For some reason, I can't clone myself!" He replied.

"Great! Right ven ve need more people, this has to happen!" Athena threw her hands up in exasperation.

"They're drawing closer…" Etzel opened his tome, flipping quickly though the pages.

"Uh, maybe I should go to the other side so see if Lord Marth and them are all right…" Malice offered, already trying to get away.

"You'll have to do it later, Malice." Horace commanded adamantly, readying his lance. "We need you with us. Princess Nyna…this will be for you…"

Katarina could already see the tips of lances and swords sticking up in the air and she clutched her lightning tome even tighter as they drew nearer towards her attack range. Gulping, she closed her eyes, stretched out a weak hand and…

At that moment, the sun suddenly blacked out, covering the entire land in a shroud of shadow. Everyone, including the enemies, looked up to see what it was. It was… a dragon? The figure in the sky suddenly swooped down, landed on the ground in front of Horace's battalion with a loud thud, emitting winds at the speed of a forming hurricane that nearly blew down all the soldiers, and uttered an ear-piercing shriek that echoed throughout the very lands of Jugdral. Not even Altena's dragon was as huge or as deadly as the one that just appeared from the sky. The dragon shrieked at the enemy soldiers again, this time forcing them into a panicked retreat to their base. The dragon snorted, then turned around to face the people behind them. Though they were grateful that the dragon was able to prevent a one-sided battle from happening, they were just staring agape with cautious and shocked expressions. The dragon reared its neck back confused, before a bright light overtook it. After the light dispersed, there was no longer a dragon, but a little girl standing in its place.

"That was fun!" The little girl giggled. "Can I do it again, Edi? Can I? Can I?"

"Maybe later, Nowi." Came a voice. "That was good though. Keep it up."

The group turned and saw a large crowd of people carrying all sorts of weapons following behind two men. One with shiny, blonde hair stepped forward and introduced himself.

"Sorry for the scare, but it was necessary." He simply said.

The second man with blue hair stepped forward. "I am Chrom, commander of this army. And this is my tactician, Edith. Is there a Lord Marth around here?"

Katarina didn't know who these people were, nor their intentions, but considering sending the dragon was on their part, then she figured that they were somehow indebted to them.

"Um…we honestly don't know where he is." She admitted. "There was a big fight moments ago, and we were separated."

"Damn." Edith cursed. "So the battle's already begun. No matter, we should be able to catch up. Chrom, your orders?"

Chrom nodded and faced his soldiers. "Everyone, we will execute things as we planned. Frederick, you and your group will accompany Edith and I to the middle; Lucina, you and the other children will head south; everyone else will remain here with these people. Understand? Now let's move out!"

Katarina looked up at Horace with a hopeful expression on her face, which he returned. With these newfound allies, surely the tides would turn in their favor. Suddenly, a red-haired woman popped up next to Katarina and held out her hand.

"You're Katarina, right?" She asked. "My name's Anna."

Katarina jumped, but then squinted her eyes at the woman. "You... I feel like we've met before."

Anna laughed and winked at her. "Maybe. Maybe not. We should talk after the battle is over."

"…this will be interesting."

* * *

"Eyvel! Finn!" Leif boomed. "Did you see that dragon over there?!"

Finn narrowed his eyes and gripped his lance. "I did see. But I don't think that should be our main concern right now."

"Father?" Nanna queried. "What do you…oh no…"

From afar, a large number of soldiers were rushing towards them, weapons drawn and ready to fight. Their footsteps thundered against the ground, making Leif's heart pump twice as fast. As they drew nearer, Leif could see that their numbers were great; even as one group broke off from the crowd, they were still big in numbers, which was not good for his squad.

"Everyone, get ready!" Leif commanded. "We're about to be on the defensive."

"Who are these people?!" Mareeta wondered. "They don't seem to be affiliated with the ones we were fighting before."

"I don't know." Eyvel responded. "But it's clear that they're looking for a fight. And we will give them just that."

"Nanna, get behind us." Finn told his daughter, never taking his eyes off of the oncoming soldiers. "This is going to get ugly."

Leif gulped and held his sword firmly in his hands. Sweat was already beginning to form on his brow, running down his red, hot cheeks. For a moment, time seemed to slow down while he could hear his heart pounding against his chest. Then, before he knew it, he was raising his sword to deflect a blow from one of the soldiers. Time resumed, and a full-out battle had begun. From the woods, Marth's jaw dropped at what he saw. He most certainly wasn't expecting allies to show up. Actually, he wasn't expecting anyone to show up, for they were the only ones out there. And…he didn't know any of the people who were fighting.

"Marth!" Hardin called to him. "I know there's many questions swirling in your mind, but we've no time for that. If we're going to fight, now's the time to do so."

"Absolutely." Marth nodded. "Okay, everyone charge!"

Norne burst through the woods, arrow already on her quiver, and shot it at Mareeta. Mareeta felt it whiz past her, and promptly blurted out, "Lord Leif! Enemy from behind!"

"What?!" Leif shouted in disbelief, all the while trying to hold off three people at once. "Dammit! Everybody, watch your backs!"

"Aw yeah!" Vaike shouted zealously as he engaged in a battle of strength with Dagda. "I fight to live and live to fight! How ya doing over there, Lissie?"

"Fine!" Lissa responded, holding off an attack from Finn with her axe. "Brother, watch out!"

"I'm all right, Lissa!" shouted Chrom.

"You!" Marth called out to Chrom. "Are you the leader of this group?"

"That I am! I'm Chrom." Chrom replied, walking over towards the king.

"I see. My name is Marth. Is it safe to assume you're on our side?"

"Yes, sir. We saw you were in dire need of some soldiers, so we came to aid you."

Marth sighed with relief and smiled. "I can't thank you enough. We were in a tough situation until you came along."

"It's nothing really. But let's talk after we're done with this. I have some things I'd like to discuss with you."

"All right then. Archaneans, these men and women are on our side! Do not attack them!"

Hardin nodded and prepared to attack Olwen, whom was busy trying to trade magic attacks with Tharja. "Nyna, my love, I hope you're watching this."

Olwen screamed when she felt Hardin's lance penetrate her stomach, causing her blood to spray all over the ground. Salem wasn't standing too far away when she fell down dead next to him. He would've been sick, but then he felt two arrows pierce his shoulder and thigh, courtesy of Virion and Norne. Salem whirled around to try and cast another spell on them, but he was immediately struck down by Flavia. As soon as Flavia ran off to help Vaike take down Dagdar, Nanna approached Salem and attempted to save his life. However, Stahl noticed what she was trying to do and slashed open her back with his sword, killing her instantly while Salem succumbed quickly to his wounds. Unfortunately, Finn saw the whole thing.

"NO! NANNA!" Finn hollered with grief and rage. The lance knight kicked his horse into a hastened gallop towards Stahl and stabbed him in the stomach.

"That was my daughter, you…!" Finn growled as he tried to thrust his lance into Stahl's chest.

Stahl was doubled over in his saddle, but was still aware that he was currently fighting and weakly used his sword to deflect. "I-I didn't know."

Finn was apathetic to the young man's excuse and tried again to kill him. He would have succeeded, but then Sully came riding up behind him and ran her lance through his abdomen. Finn wasn't dead as he fell off his horse, but the wound he sustained was fatal. He was barely able to mutter, "Raquesis, Nanna…Lord Leif…forgive me…" before giving into death.

"You all right there, Stahl?" Sully asked, tossing Stahl a vulnerary. "You almost got yourself a major arse-whoopin' there."

"I might need a healer for this." Stahl responded, applying some of the medicine to his wound. "And I…I feel horrible right now, but not because of my wound. I mean…I know that as a knight, I have to protect my liege and comrades. And this is a battle, so of course there will be killing and death. But that man I just fought…I killed his daughter. The intense sorrow I saw in his eyes…it was unbearable. I know we've done this before, but…I just can't help feeling this way."

Sully didn't look moved at all, but she did place a hand on her husband's shoulder in a soothing way. "Look, they made it clear that they are our enemies and will fight us to the death. They should be aware of the consequences, so stop feeling so sorry for them and yourself. Now let's get that wound healed."

Stahl opened his mouth to respond, but all that came out was a panicked, "Sully, behind you!"

Sully cursed as she was barely able to steer her and Stahl out of the way after Eyvel shot out a fireball from her sword. Sully drew her own weapon as Stahl applied more medicine to his wound.

"You're going to fight us?" Sully questioned the woman.

"You killed my friends." Eyvel seethed. "I'm not going to back down from here."

"Damn! Stahl, you might want to leave this one to me."

"No way." Stahl replied. "This woman looks fierce and I don't want to take any chances. My wound can wait; let's take her on together."

"Those two remind me of Cain and Abel." Catria thought as she watched the couple battle Eyvel. Suddenly, the atmosphere around her began to change; Catria had enough battle experience to know what this was. Unfortunately, she didn't have enough time to react before she was critically scorched by a Bolganone spell from Saias. Catria bit her lip to prevent from screaming in agony, but the pain from being burned alive was too much and she was beginning to lose consciousness. Right when she nearly lost the grip on her reins, Sumia flew up to her and helped Catria and her Pegasus to safety. Saias shook his head, seeing that his spell didn't do much to the Whitewing, but then tried focusing his attention onto someone else. Vaike was still struggling to get the upper-hand against Dagdar, whom was handling it with ease, Eyvel was able to stand fine on her own, battling two cavaliers at once, and Leif was able to evade every attack from Chrom and Marth coming to him swiftly. The priest then caught sight of Frederick and Kellam fighting off Raydrik, and right when he lifted a hand to cast another spell, Mareeta came running up behind him shouting, "Saias! Look out!"

Saias ducked just in time to realize he was almost the victim of Tiki's dragon breath. As if escaping death wasn't enough, Say'ri came behind ready to fight. Luckily for him, Mareeta was there to fight her off while he turned his attacks on Tiki in her dragon form. Tiki was unrelenting to all of his attacks and swiped her talons at him, knocking him over. Norne sunk an arrow into him that pierced his chest, ending his life immediately. All the color from Mareeta's face drained to a sickly pale when she saw her bishop friend die right in front of her. Soon, her pain was replaced with anger and started to land rage-filled attacks at Say'ri, whom was trying but failing to dodge and evade them all. She couldn't even retaliate against Mareeta's speedy attacks.

"You're strong…" Say'ri muttered. "Stronger than most of the warriors I've seen in Chon'sin."

"I'm the daughter of Eyvel." Mareeta replied angrily. "I will not lose to you!"

"But you will lose to me!" Flavia cut in as she held her sword against Mareeta's throat. "…unless you surrender."

"Never!" Mareeta clutched onto her sword tighter and swung it backwards in the hopes of striking Flavia and making her an easy victim. Instead Flavia was anticipating this and slit open the young girl's jugular vein, leaving her bleeding out on the ground. Even though she was almost attacked by Mareeta a second ago, Flavia still felt some sort of pity for her.

"Say'ri…we can't let her die like this." She said.

Say'ri understood what she meant and nodded. Slowly, she walked closer to Mareeta, readied her sword, and plunged it into her chest, trying to finish her off as quickly and painlessly as possible.

"You know, when we fight the corpse soldiers and bandits," Say'ri started. "I usually don't feel much sympathy for them. But fighting people like this young girl…it seems different…and painful. I feel like we could've been friends with these people."

Flavia closed her eyes and didn't say anything, just giving off a sympathetic hum for a response. A grief-stricken scream echoed across the land, getting the two women's attention.

"MAREETA!" Eyvel cried. The mercenary was so overwhelmed with a torrent of conflicting emotions that she just abandoned her fight with Sully and Stahl and sprinted towards Say'ri and Flavia, lust for revenge flaring in her eyes. Say'ri and Flavia didn't flinch as they prepared for Eyvel to attack, but they were unprepared for the strength they were about to face. Eyvel crossed swords with the two women, pushing their blades back with all her strength and slashing wildly against their attacks. Eyvel had more strength in her than Say'ri and Flavia were expecting and it was quickly becoming a one-sided fight into Eyvel's favor. She was just about to finish the both of them off, but that was when Edith noticed their struggle and quickly casted a spell from his tome. The sudden blast of magic critically wounded Eyvel, enough to weaken her defenses and allow Say'ri to go in for the kill. Edith glanced down sadly at the fallen mercenary and raised his eyes to the heavens.

"Are you entertained right now, Grandfather?" Edith muttered under his breath.

By this time, the numbers in Leif's squad began to lessen. Sumia hurled a javelin at Dagdar, giving Vaike the opportunity to slice open the warrior's chest with Tharja dealing the killing blow. Frederick and Kellam were finally able to take down Raydrik once Hardin was able to lend his assistance. The only one remaining was Leif, who was still in an intense battle with Marth and Chrom. Marth noticed that there were no more enemies left in this group so he immediately pulled away with Chrom following suit.

"Lord Leif," Marth said, pointing the tip of Falchion at Leif's chest. "Is this fighting really necessary? Look around you; all of your comrades have fallen."

Leif glared at Marth, but did take one glance…and nearly dropped his sword at what he saw. He was the only one left standing, the corpses of his fellow soldiers strewn about on the ground in bloody messes. He was so caught up in fighting that he didn't even notice that the rest of his team were dropping like flies. Now he was surrounded by his enemies, making escaping impossible. Why hadn't reinforcements come? Leif looked over to where Seliph's group was and his throat suddenly ran dry. More of the mysterious people showed up and were fighting off Seliph and his squadron the _entire_ time; a clever tactic indeed. For a moment, Leif considered savagely attacking everyone and anyone in his path, which would no doubt lead to his death, but he dismissed the thought as he realized that it would do no good to his family, friends, and the people who lost their lives in the battle. He caught sight of his cousin fighting off a woman with long, blue hair, and that was enough to raise his spirits knowing he was still alive, but only by an insignificant amount.

"Lord Leif." Chrom spoke up. "I highly advise that you surrender now, if you value your life."

Leif scoffed. He could not…would not surrender to the people who had invaded his continent, his home. And he was not going to fight alone, not when his other allies still lived. Licking his lips, Leif did what he could only do now. He opened his mouth and shouted at the top of his lungs, "SELLLLIIIIPPHHHH!"

* * *

Even though he was far away, Seliph could still make out Leif's voice in the distance and immediately he could feel his stomach drop, for Leif would never shout out like that. Lucina had given up fighting him to battle off Ares, which gave him the chance to scan his eyes around the land for Leif. His eyes widened with horror when he realized the situation his cousin was in. Leif needed help more than ever now, but he couldn't just bring help that easily because of the sudden attack made on them. Seliph hated to admit it, but he was torn: he couldn't abandon his relative, but he couldn't abandon his squadron when they were in a tight battle. That was when an idea came to mind.

"Everyone!" Seliph shouted out. "We must push our way through to aid Lord Leif! Don't fight back. Defend yourselves if necessary, but focus on breaking through!"

"Don't let them through!" Lucina barked out right after. "Close in now!"

Altena didn't hesitate; she and her dragon soared high up into the skies and quickly tried to reach her brother as fast as she could. Gerome intercepted her path in an instant, but she was uninterested in fighting him.

"Get out of my way!" She yelled. "If you don't, then I will cut you down!"

"You have two choices." Gerome responded bluntly. "Either toss down your weapon, or fight me to the death."

Altena groaned and immediately thrusted the Gae Bolg at Gerome's wyvern. Gerome didn't even flinch as he steered clear of the attack, countering with a swing of his axe. Altena grit her teeth and tried to get away from her opponent, but he was blocking every one of her potential paths as if he was reading her every thought.

"Cunning bastard." Altena cursed with frustration.

Gerome didn't look offended, not that Altena could tell because of his mask.

"I don't care what you think of me." He said. "Your opinions won't deter me from getting in your way."

Altena's blood was beginning to boil, and finally gave in to fighting Gerome. On the ground, Seliph's army was having trouble crossing the bridge above the river below. Kjelle was guarding the bridge while the rest of the children stood together like a stone wall.

"Oh man, my blood is running hot!" Owain screeched. "The blood of warriors pulsing through my veins…I can feel it…don't get near me now… it's about to boil over…AHHHHH!"

"What…the hell…kind of nonsense…is this?!" Ulster shouted between parries. He was slightly alarmed though, for Owain was suddenly swinging his sword with more strength and fervidity. It was as if he was cursed by the Sword of Darkness. Next to Owain, Inigo was trading blows with Larcei, much to his own dissatisfaction.

"Why must I fight a pretty lady like yourself?" Inigo asked as they locked swords. "We could be sitting down and sipping tea together right now."

"Who the hell do you think you are to hit on me?!" Larcei scorned. "And even if we weren't fighting, you're not my type…"

"Huh…?! NO ONE harasses my sister and gets away with it!" Ulster spat. "Larcei, trade enemies!"

Inigo's pupils dilated twice in size. "No, I don't want to fight a man!"

"Inigo, stop flirting, and get your head in the freakin' fight, ya dumbass!" Owain screamed, still caught up in his rage session.

"Oh my gosh, just shut up already!" Severa called out. "God, I can hear both of y'all's annoying, little voices all the way from here!"

Laurent shook his head. "Tsk, so immature. Can't take anything seriously."

The young mage opened his tome and quickly shot a fire spell at Ced, whom dodged it with ease. Cynthia was trying to fight off Fee in the air, but then let Noire take her out while she swooped down to take on Ares when she saw Lucina struggling a bit with him. Morgan and Julia were trading magic spells left and right, one of them nearly hitting Brady.

"Hey watch it!" he yelled angrily. "I'm just a priest!"

"Whoops, hehe, sorry Brady!" Morgan quickly turned around so Brady could see the sincerity on her face, but that distraction alone was enough to give Julia the opportunity to cast another spell.

"Morgan! Watch out!" Yarne shouted as the grandmaster was nearly caught in the blast. Luckily, the Taguel pulled her out of the way just in time, though Brady was almost hit again. The priest was busy cursing his luck when Julius saw this as a chance to take him down and eagerly readied a Goetia spell. He was just about to cast it when Nah attacked him in her dragon form, snarling at him in a menacing, bloodthirsty manner. Julius wasn't even frightened in the slightest and instead casted his Goetia spell towards Nah. The magic only grazed the skin of the Manakete, which to her felt as troublesome as a mosquito bite. Quickly, Nah retaliated with a blast of her dragon breath, holding nothing back. Julius did not escape fast enough and was effortlessly consumed by the divine energy. Julia watched with horror at her twin brother disintegrating into the flames, leaving only a pitiful pile of ash in his position. Before she could make any reaction at all though, Morgan shot a blast of magic from her tome, catching the young mage off guard and ultimately ending her life. Morgan looked at the magic-burnt corpse and could feel tears come to her eyes.

"Morgan…what's wrong?" Yarne asked, confused at the girl's sudden change in behavior.

"Oh, Yarne…I…" Morgan suddenly collapsed into the Taguel's arms, much to his surprise. "What have I done? She didn't deserve to die like that, but…"

Morgan began to cry louder, eventually causing everyone to stop their fighting and to see what the commotion was. Ced let out a heart-broken scream. Seliph felt his heart shatter into a million pieces when he saw his stepsister lifeless on the ground, ash where his stepbrother stood, and an empty saddle on Fee's Pegasus. He let one, no two family members and a comrade die while he could have been there to protect them… that knowledge alone caused a tidal wave of guilt to crash over him and he let out a pain-filled battle-cry.

"GET TO LORD LEIF NOW! HOLD NOTHING BACK!" Seliph heard his voice crack as he shouted and he immediately turned his head to the side, trying to blink away his tears. "I will not let another family member die on me like that…"

His squadron shouted loudly in response and began to force their way through the children's defenses as best they could. The children's resistance was strong, but the Jugdral children's determination was stronger.

Suddenly, Chrom shouted out to his daughter, "Lucina, let them through!"

Lucina seemed a little hesitant, but didn't bother to question her father's decision and ordered the other children to let their enemies break through and get across the bridge. Leif saw this as an opportunity to make his own escape and he quickly fired a blast from his Light Sword at Marth and quickly made his getaway to Seliph's group. For a moment, Seliph and his battalion thought they might have a chance, but that's when they soon realized…that they had sandwiched themselves in between the two enemy groups, which were slowly starting to close in between them.

"Seliph…?" Leif said nervously.

Seliph gulped and answered his cousin, "W-What is it, Leif?"

"You know how you said earlier that you had a bad feeling about this battle?"

"Yes?"

"I…I think it may have come true."

* * *

"Hey, Nowi." Said Ricken.

"Hm? What is it, Ricken?" the young Manakete inquired.

"I think you really scared them off when you transformed into a dragon."

"The kid's right." Gaius added. "They ain't coming back anytime soon."

"Damn." Basilio grunted and dug his axe into the ground. "And I was looking forward to a fight."

"I vouldn't speak too soon if I vere you." Athena responded, pointing her sword. "Look."

Basilio looked up and indeed saw someone running towards them. When the figure drew nearer, he could recognize the individual as Edith. The tactician quickly skidded to a stop.

"There's fighting going on in the land across from here." He said. "Chrom wants some of you to help out while he, some others, and I head for the castle. If I call your name, then start heading over to the fighting: Basilio, Gangrel, Yen'fay, Aversa, Miriel, Lon'qu, Olivia, Donnel, Libra, Cordelia, Cherche, Legion, Malice, Walhart, Maribelle, Gregor, and Henry."

"Yes sir." The people responded and began to march towards the fighting. Edith nodded and turned to the people remaining.

"Let's see…" He said. "That leaves us with: Athena, Nowi, Gaius, Ricken, Katarina, Anna, Panne, Priam, Emmeryn, Etzel, and Horace. All right, let's start heading over there, but don't start fighting it. Our strategy here is to flank the enemy from both sides. Katarina, can you flash a signal to Chrom to let him know that we're ready?"

The sage nodded and raised a hand in the air, summoning a quick lightning bolt to streak across the sky in a bright flash. From afar, Chrom recognized the signal and quickly scanned his eyes around in search of the group he was planning on bringing with him.

"Lucina, Tiki, Kellam, Lis, and Lord Marth." He belted out. "We're getting ready to storm the fortress."

Marth was about to comply, but suddenly he found himself clashing against Seliph and Leif. Lucina noticed the struggle and immediately engaged herself in a fight against Leif to aid Marth.

"Go on without us, Chrom!" Marth shouted out. "We might be a while."

Chrom hesitated, but then decided to let them handle everything. The field was becoming a one-sided massacre. Altena failed to notice the various archers on the ground and was shot out of the sky, much to Leif's devastation. Lon'qu and Basilio ganged up on Ares and felled him instantly. Cordelia, Catria, Cherche, and Gerome circled around Arthur and Ced, whom were trying to attack Olivia and Donnel, to distract them while Libra, Miriel, Aversa, and Henry overwhelmed them with magic, both dark and light. Their dying screams of pain distracted the Isaachian twins while they were battling Yen'fay and Malice, and that eventually caused them to be slaughtered by Legion and Gangrel. Walhart previously tried to fight off Leif and Seliph, but the two were fast-paced and were able to land multiple attacks on him before going off to fight Marth and Lucina. Maribelle sighed as she healed the armored man's multiple wounds.

"Gosh, everyone's carelessness is making me work so much harder than usual." The troubadour muttered. "I hope you're happy, Edi."

"Lord Seliph!" Marth said as he dodged and blocked every one of Seliph's attacks. "Please listen! You don't have to fall here today. Just simply throw down your weapon and…"

"Out of the question." Seliph simply responded. "You killed off my friends and family. If I surrender now, then their deaths would mean nothing. I intend on fighting with the last bit of strength I have…no matter the outcome."

Marth's face fell as he continued to strike at his opponent. A pained yell pierced his eardrum and found out that Lucina had defeated Leif with a stab to the chest. Seliph turned his head away as well, leaving his defense wide open. As soon as Marth noticed this, he jumped on the chance and slashed open Seliph's abdomen. The young prince was caught completely off guard and fell to the ground, grasping his bleeding wound.

"Seliph…I'm…sorry…" Leif choked out to his cousin. "These…these people…they're not of…this world…"

"Leif…no…" Seliph coughed as Leif closed his eyes and let death take him. Seliph felt a pang of remorse, but it wasn't that great. He knew he would follow shortly after. Marth glanced down sadly at his fallen opponent and knelt next to his side.

"Forgive me, Lord Seliph." He muttered. "I…I never saw you as a bad man. I didn't even want to fight you, but…"

"Stop…Lord Marth." Seliph whispered faintly. "You…wanted to protect your kingdom. I…I would have done the same…you're a…good man, Lord Marth. It breaks my heart…that things had to…had to…come to this. I feel…we could have been…friends…"

Seliph gave out one last breath, then his chest fell still and his entire body went limp. Marth sighed and closed his eyes.

"Peace comes with a price, Mar-Mar." The young king looked up and saw Tiki standing over him. Slowly, he rose to his feet and found out with a shock that this version of Tiki was not a child, but a young woman. However, something didn't seem right. He saw the child Tiki get slain in the chaos hours ago, but the adult Tiki still remained…but how?

"I'm sure they knew that too." She continued.

"Tiki, you're…you've grown." Marth stammered. "But I don't…understand?"

"Time is a complicated thing." The Manakete responded. "But we'll discuss it later. Right now, we have one last thing to do."

"Ah, yes. You're right." Marth was bewildered and a little surprised at Tiki's maturity, but shook his head and drew his sword out of the ground. He decided he would mourn for the casualties of this battle later, and ran to meet up with Chrom.

* * *

Arden, who was standing guard at the bridge, went wide-eyed when he saw Chrom and Marth leading a small battalion towards them.

"Oi, Lord Sigurd!" He called. "The Archanean king- Marth was it- well he's still alive and with more people. They're heading this way right now!"

"What?!" Sigurd exclaimed, worry starting to wash over him. "And…what of Seliph?"

"And Altena and Leif?" Ethlyn followed up.

"Or any of the other children?" Deirdre added.

"I-I don't think they…survived."

Deirdre screamed as Sigurd's face went pale. Ethlyn buried her face into Quan's chest, sobbing hysterically while the paladin shook his head in disbelief at what he just heard. The other parents were in the same state: devastated, heartbroken, and extremely overwhelmed with anguish. They let their children go off without any question, but now that they were killed…it felt as though they sent them to their deaths themselves. They didn't have time to wallow in their own sorrows however because suddenly, the roars of footsteps and battle cries were heard coming their way as two small armies were approaching from both sides.

"Everyone, get ready." Sigurd commanded, barely keeping himself from getting choked up. "We…we'll have to grieve later. Right now, we have to take care of the enemy. They're small in numbers so…"

"S-Sigurd…" Quan said, wiping unshed tears from his eyes. "Even if we kill them off, more will just show up. This probably isn't even half of their army."

"They just came so suddenly…and took our children away from us..." Ethlyn mumbled in her husband's clothing, clearly disturbed.

Sigurd let out a distressed sigh. "Then…we'll just have to fight as best as we can. For our children."

Ayra glared at her sword and held it in a readied position. Raquesis blocked the image of her husband and daughter lying bloodied on the ground and prepared her steed. Lewyn and Arvis opened their tomes, Jamke examined his bows and quiver, and Ethlyn managed to collect herself to draw her own weapon.

"Arden, prepare yourself." Sigurd instructed the armored knight.

Right when Arden was about to answer, a lightning bolt struck him, electrocuting him from the inside. Edith flipped another page in his tome and fired another shot of lightning at Jamke, whom was barely able to get himself out of the attack range.

"They're here!" Sigurd shouted. "Attack!"

"This is the final wave of enemies." Edith barked out. "Get ready!"

Tiki and Nowi immediately transformed into their dragon forms and headed after Arvis. Athena, Panne, and Priam teamed up against Ayra and Jamke. Lucina immediately went after Quan and Ethlyn with Edith and Chrom backing her up. Horace and Kellam protected weaker soldiers like Ricken and Gaius. Lissa was trying to help her sister Emmeryn fight Raquesis, but the battle cleric was unaware of Lewyn getting ready to attack her. Katarina noticed this however, and immediately jumped in front of her to intercept the spell. The intensity of the blast was much more critical than she expected, and she fell to the ground, gasping for breath. Lissa noticed the sage fall right next to her, causing her to let out a panicked shriek as she tried to save her life.

"You…you took that for me?!" Lissa stammered. "Don't worry, I...I-I'll save you. Hang on..."

Katarina trembled in pain, wheezing heavily. "Lord Marth…have I…atoned for my sins...?"

Lissa's heart dropped when Katarina fell lifeless. A hand gripped her shoulder, and she looked up to see Emmeryn staring sympathetically down at her. Raquesis had retreated to go aid Lewyn, whom was fighting with Etzel, leaving just the two sisters.

"Emmeryn…" Lissa closed her eyes.

"Lissa…don't grieve…" Emmeryn slurred. "She…protected you…honor her decision…"

Lissa sniffled and allowed Emmeryn to help her onto her feet. From the side, Anna looked at the scene with desolation.

"Guess we won't be able to have that talk after this." She sighed.

The fighting was starting to get difficult, but nobody would let their strength give out just yet. Etzel badly injured Lewyn, but Deirdre was able to take him out with no problem. Ricken was almost the victim of Arvis's Valflame, but luckily Nowi was able to get him out of there just in time. Gaius hurled dagger after dagger in the hopes of catching Ayra off guard, but the swordswoman was too focused on her opponents to let it bother her. Jamke shot multiple arrows into Tiki's skin, some successfully penetrated her softer areas under her belly, forcing her to withdraw so Lissa could heal her. Edith himself felt himself becoming drained. He could already begin to notice how the enemies they were fighting now were starting to get the upper hand. Panne was losing a lot of blood from fighting Ayra and had to quickly retreat, Athena was defeated not too long after, leaving Priam to just fight her himself, which was already starting to prove to be a difficult challenge. Ethlyn shot a blast of Arcthunder at Kellam. Even though Gaius tried to step in, both of them ended up getting critically singed by the magic.

"Gaius, you and Kellam get outta here!" Edith shouted.

"Hey, but…!" Gaius started to protest, but Kellam weakly gripped his arm.

"Please, Gaius…" He wheezed. "We'll die if we continue like this.

With a defeated groan, Gaius reluctantly but quickly removed themselves from the fighting. Edith cursed again when he realized that there weren't many of them left. If the situation didn't change soon, then they would all die and it would affect not only this world, but their other world beyond the gate. Something clicked inside Edith's mind as he came to that realization, and he suddenly felt overcome with a stronger sense of determination. He flipped open his tome again and fired a powerful blast of magic at Arvis, right when the sorcerer was about to attack Nowi, and killed him right on the spot.

"Chrom!" Edith shouted. "We have to finish this!"

"Right!" Chrom broke through Quan and Ethlyn's defense and stood back to back with his tactician. "Everyone! Give it all you've got! Let's end this battle right now!"

Lucina grit her teeth together as she pushed her body beyond her limits, successfully knocking Quan and Ethlyn off their horses. They continued to fight against her, however, but with the help of Horace, Lucina was able to stab Ethlyn in her stomach as Horace easily pierced Quan's chest, ending both of their lives instantly. Ricken and Edith both unleashed their magic on Jamke and Ayra, giving Priam the chance to finish off Ayra and then killing Jamke shortly thereafter. Chrom dodged an attack from Lewyn, and immediately slaughtered him and Raquesis while Marth finished off Deirdre. The only one left standing was Sigurd, who was stricken with the shock of witnessing friends and family getting massacred at once. All his mind registered was that there was no one else who could possibly turn the tide for him now, and drew his sword with a shaky hand, ready to go down with a fight.

"You're still going to fight us…?" Marth asked incredulously.

"All my friends and family are gone." Sigurd replied with a dull tone in his voice. He was so numb after everything that happened. "It's hopeless for me to fight now, but I'm not going to stop here. Just…do me one favor. Don't hold back…come at me with full force!"

Marth looked pitifully at the despairing lord in front of him, but a nod from Chrom encouraged him to proceed. Marth slashed open Sigurd's chest, spraying blood all over his white attire. Sigurd actually retaliated and ended up cutting open Marth's shoulder, but with not enough power to damage it much. Chrom followed up with a critical blow to Sigurd's abdomen, and that was the final strike that finally ended with Sigurd of Chaphy's untimely death.

"You've done well…Prince of Light…" Sigurd rasped. "My people of Jugdral…forgive me…"

"It's done." Marth stated when Sigurd closed his eyes. There was a tone to the young man's voice that showed that he was neither relieved, nor satisfied at the victory. Broken weapons and corpses littered the once lively grounds of Jugdral. A breeze traveled across the lands, wafting the stench of battle, blood, and death eerily through the atmosphere. Deep down, Marth felt horrible…he felt like a murderer. It wasn't the first time he took this many lives, but never once had he fought in a battle quite like this one. He didn't know any of these people, but he could see the look of pain on their faces whenever he cut down one of their own. He could see the exact same look on his own soldiers whenever the blood of his allies was spilled. Winning this battle would not bring his friends back, nor would it bring him satisfaction. The only thing he obtained out of this was an empty sense of accomplishment, knowing that he was actually able to protect his kingdom from disaster. And despite the darkness in his heart, he was grateful for Chrom and his army for showing up when they did.

"Lord Chrom…I owe my life to you." Marth said. "If you hadn't shown up…I doubt my soldiers and I would have survived."

"It was no problem." Chrom responded. "Edith was the one who decided to lend you a hand."

"Now that you mention him…where is your tactician anyways?"

"Hm?" Chrom looked around, but the blonde was no where in sight. "Yes…where _did_ he go?"

* * *

"Splendid, Edith, splendid!" The old man applauded as if he finished watching a play. "That was very exhilarating! Why, I haven't been this much on the edge of my seat since my days of going to the arena! You sure know how to make your old man worry, my grandchild."

Edith said nothing as he watched his grandfather bounce up and down like a child. Once he was able to calm himself down, he released a content sigh and threw his arm around his grandson's shoulder.

"Quite the fight." He blabbered on. "I thought you were going to die a couple times back there."

"Gee, thanks for being supportive." Edith shrugged his grandfather's arm off his shoulder. "I hate to inform you that while you were right here, having a grand ole time watching us spill our enemies' blood and guts, _we_ were on the front lines of battle, quailing the entire time. We tore families apart…and how did we make it up to them? We gutted and incinerated them. It…it was horrible. Way worse than fighting off corpse soldiers in our time."

"I understand how you feel." The old man said with sympathy. "I could tell by all the looks on everyone's devastated faces that you were not enjoying this."

"OF COURSE WE DIDN'T ENJOY IT!"

"Calm down, calm down. Gosh, I'm not THAT deaf, you know. Anyways, I am a man of my word. So hopefully this will make up for your struggles."

The old man pulled out his pouch and withdrew from it a shiny talisman: Leif.

"Leif, eh?" Edith pocketed it away. "Heh…the irony. We kill him in battle and now he will be helping us."

"All's well that ends well, right?" His grandfather flashed a toothy grin. He moved towards his orb, muttered a few words, and then smashed it onto the ground, letting it shatter into a million pieces. Edith stared wide-eyed as his mind attempted to register what just happened.

"Uh, Grandfather? What did you just do that for?" was all he could come up with.

"That orb was where I concentrated the timelines to create the scenarios for that battle." He said, sweeping the shards away. "You see, if I continued to let that universe exist, its past would eventually blend with the original past…creating just one big historical mess."

"Is that so? Well…what happens to the figures who are living in that timeline?"

"Oh, nothing that harmful, that's for sure. They may experience some dizziness, nausea, fainting spells, disorientation, strange hallucinations, or nightmares. It should only last about a day or two for them. I think you and your comrades are the only ones who will actually remember anything though. But check your history books; you'll see that nothing has changed."

"Wow, you…really have everything figured out."

"Heh, like I said, don't underestimate me, Edith. I know exactly what I'm doing. In fact, I may teach you what I know someday."

The blonde man snorted as he turned his heel to leave. "Psh, no thanks. The last thing I want to become is a sadistic hermit."

Surprisingly, the old man thought that comment was more hysterical rather than offensive. "Oh by the way, when are you coming by again?"

Edith froze. "What…do you mean by that?"

His grandfather grinned as he held up another orb, revealing two young men: one with fiery red hair, the other with spiky blue hair. By the looks of it, they were on the verge of breaking out into a ferocious battle.

"That is…" Edith started in disbelief.

"I already have another battle planned out." He explained. "But you better hurry if you want to catch it. The fun…is only about to begin…"

* * *

**A/N: Battle scenes are NOT my favorite thing to do in the world, but I found some motivation to get them written down while listening to "This is War" by Thirty Seconds to Mars and "Some Nights" by Fun. I've never before had so many feels for the characters as I wrote this, especially for the Jugdral people. I mean, they're all family and their lives are already pretty much tragic in-game. Hopefully I haven't antagonized Marth's side too much…after all he was supposed to be the good guy. Up next: Roy vs. Ike**


	3. Red vs Blue: Roy vs Ike

**A/N: I see the English translated script for the DLC episodes and it makes me want to just scrap this entire story and start over. But then again, I like putting my own twist on things. Maybe this could be an AU? Well, hope you don't mind any instances of non-cannonical events and enjoy the story!**

* * *

Edith groaned to himself as he studied an ancient map of Elibe to prepare himself for the next Outer Realm battle. To his relief, his grandfather decided to hold off the battle for another day, even though there still wouldn't be much time to prepare. As Edith continued to devise more strategies, he couldn't help but wonder what it was like to be able to manipulate history at the flick of a wrist. There was so much power behind it; being able to control time could determine _any_ past, present, and future. The thought itself was frightening, so Edith had to lightly slap himself to get it out of his mind.

"There's no way I'd be able to wield such power." The blonde muttered to himself. He glanced over his shoulder to look at his daughter, sleeping in his bed roll. "There's no way I'd want Morgan to wield such power either."

"Edith?" Chrom inquired as he stepped into the tactician's tent. "Ah, I'm glad you're here. You just disappeared so suddenly, I thought we'd left you behind in the Outer Realm."

Edith smiled sheepishly and shook his head. "No, just needed to talk to my Grandfather."

Chrom gave an understanding nod and went to sit on Edith's bedroll, careful to not disturb Morgan from her slumber. He smiled at the sleeping grandmaster and gently patted her head before turning his attention to his strategist. "You look a little stressed out. What's the matter?"

"Just, ah…" Edith stammered over his words a bit. "Things didn't really go so well with my Grandfather. He wants us to fight another battle."

"Oh, I see." Chrom didn't even sound the least bit alarmed. "Anna told us everything about that deal you made with him. If you ask me, it's pretty useful for the others to gain more fighting experience. And with the extra help from these past warriors, Grima won't stand a chance."

"I know that, but…it just doesn't seem right. These talismans, they're not really the heroes of the past; they just contain their fighting spirits. However, they still have half a mind to know that something is off in their world. Did you see Seliph's expression as Leif died right next to him?"

Chrom frowned. "Yeah. Honestly, I've never been in many battles with such emotion. Especially when I saw my ancestors fighting against each other…or when I had to fight against them. Lucina sure felt it as much as Lissa and I. Even Emmeryn, who doesn't really remember much, knew that something was off fighting against our great relatives. Also, there's a whole lot of confusion with these battles. Everyone in my family is still here even though we destroyed a major part of our bloodline, and the younger version of Tiki was killed in Jugdral, yet she's still alive and well like nothing happened."

"Those talismans are merely a reflection of that hero's soul; it has their personality and even their mindset. But it isn't like you're fighting the actual person, though there is some risk to it."

"Like what?"

"Well if you were killed in the Outer Realm, history would just overwrite itself without you in the picture. It would almost be like you never existed. Another thing is that my grandfather takes out random branches from actual timelines and places them together, along with the talismans, into an orb to see how a scenario would play out. If that orb isn't destroyed, there'd be nothing to do to prevent the entire past, present, and future from changing."

"So basically, he's altering history." Chrom massaged his temples. "A helluva hobby he's got there. It's… pretty insane to think about."

"Yeah. And he expects me to do the exact same thing." Edith involuntarily let out a groan of frustration, which Chrom noticed.

"You…don't seem to get along with Hubba, do you?" He asked.

A sigh escaped Edith's throat. "Honestly, it's a love-hate relationship. I don't agree with what he does, and it angers me to the core when he uses extreme methods to get what he wants. But, despite all this… I owe my life to him. I have no memory of my own past, but he told me that he raised me since my mother and I escaped Validar and he taught me about the talismans. So I took his word for it."

"You actually believe someone as sly and kooky as him?!"

"Ha! I know he may appear to be a sneak, but he actually is a man of promise. That's why I can trust him."

Chrom snorted and playfully clapped his friend on the shoulder. "I don't understand you, Edith. And I probably never will."

"That's my charm." Edith joked. "Well, I'm going to continue to study up on Elibe's geography to prepare for this next battle. Think everyone will be ready for it?"

"They'll be fine. They're a strong group of fighters, physically and emotionally even after everything we've been through, so I have much faith in them. What part of Elibe are we going to?"

Edith shrugged and let Chrom get a good view of the map. "Ever heard of the Dread Isle?"

* * *

Boots clapping against the marble floors echoed throughout the wide corridors of Bern Keep. The owner of the boots, the son of the marquess of Pherae Roy, kept a blank expression on his face as he followed his father Eliwood and a lowly servant boy to the council room where Bern's King Zephiel was waiting. King Zephiel had issued an order for all the nobles of Elibe to come together to discuss some less than "_pleasing_" matters. Mini uprisings were beginning to arise in many parts of Elibe, all of them linked to a mysterious organization. This group's origins and motives were unknown, however Zephiel had finally found out some new information from some agents of his, and decided to share the news with everyone else. Roy didn't trust the man, as did Eliwood, because of all the tensions between Bern and Lycia. It was for this reason that Roy accompanied his father to Bern to meet with the other nobles. If Zephiel was up to no good, he'd be sure to help take care of it immediately.

"Marquess Pherae, Lord Roy." the servant boy spoke up, immediately capturing the redhead's attention. "Master Zephiel awaits you."

Eliwood thanked the young man, then turned to face his son.

"Now, Roy." Eliwood said in a stern voice to warn Roy about the gravity of this situation. "I know you don't like Zephiel and I understand. I don't trust him anymore than you do. He is a shady man with questionable ruling methods. However, his status is higher than ours and he is more powerful than us. Therefore we will treat him like so with dignity and respect. Do I make myself clear?"

"Yes, Father." Roy responded calmly, but stiffly.

Eliwood smiled and turned again, inhaling deeply as he opened the door to the council room. Inside was dark, despite the candles and torches barely lighting up some sections of the room, which really seemed befitting to the gloomy atmosphere. In the dimness, Eliwood could still make out the faces of nobles from around the continent, whom were gathered together around a circular table. Right at the center in all his glory, was the mighty king Zephiel, lightly drumming his fingers on the mahogany wood. Next to his side was his sister, Guinevere. The man watched both Eliwood and Roy intensely as the two made their way before the table and bowed.

"Marquess Pherae." Zephiel acknowledged Eliwood. "Have a seat."

"Yes, Your Majesty." Eliwood replied as he and Roy took seats next to Marquess Ostia and his daughter Lilina. Hector gave a friendly nod to Eliwood, and Roy smiled joyfully at Lilina, relieved to have a childhood friend there to lighten some of his uneasiness.

"Now that everyone is present," Zephiel began. "Let's get started."

Zephiel gestured to one of his servants, whom brought out a map of the continent. The locations where the uprisings had taken place were circled in red and numbered in order at the times they happened. After a few seconds of letting everyone familiarize themselves with the map, Zephiel started to speak:

"As you can see by this map, these attacks started on the outskirts of Etruria, moved towards the Ilian-Sacaen border, down to Khathelet, and finally to Eastern Lycia. Every witness and agent we had heard from all said the same things: a strange group of mercenaries and nobles alike have been staging these attacks, all of them led by a blue-haired man. Well these same people were last seen stationing themselves in southern Lycia near the port of Badon and it was then that one of our spies were able to place a name on the leader, as well as the ethnicity of the group. The man is Ike of Tellius, formally known as the Hero of the Blue Flames."

A chorus of murmurs sounded up around the entire room. Not long after Zephiel took up the throne, Elibe and Tellius struck up an international trade route with each other. But up until recently, complications were beginning to rear up between the two continents. Tellius complained about suspicious activity coming from Elibe's naval force, while Elibe claimed that Tellius was trying to overpower their government with mercenaries. Since then, Elibe and Tellius haven't been on good terms with each other and now small skirmishes were taking place on land and sea. Compared to the troubles between the Lycian and Bernese governments, the conflict with Tellius was easily becoming an even bigger problem.

"Figures they would come here looking for trouble." Erik, the marquess of Laus, grumbled.

"Father, why would they do this?" Roy whispered. "What did we even do to them?"

Eliwood opened his mouth to answer, but then Zephiel loudly cleared his throat to get everyone's attention.

"Now as I was saying," Zephiel continued. "with this group having been further investigated, we have some more information concerning their reason for being here. A couple weeks ago a naval battle had broken out, resulting in all of Tellius's supply ships on the bottom of the sea. The people responsible for this are unidentified, but Tellius is blaming us for that mishap."

"And that is why they are causing all this mayhem in our governments?" Eliwood questioned.

"Supposedly yes. But despite whatever reason it may be, I know we must get rid of them as soon as possible. Now this is where we get to the heart of the meeting. We must devise some sort of plan to round them all up and exterminate them before anymore trouble ensues."

"Brother, wait." Guinevere spoke up. "Wouldn't creating a battle against these foreigners cause an uproar in their continent? They may send more people here if that were to happen."

"Well, they…"

"She's got a point, Zephiel." Hector chimed in, not bothering to use proper titles. "A world war is the last thing we need now."

"But we can't have them freely running amuck in our territories!" Erik pointed out.

"Why not just set up border patrol to capture them?" Eliwood suggested. "Then we'll send them back to their continent with a warning saying that if we ever catch them committing violence in our governments again, we will wage war against them."

"Maybe a war is what they're looking for." Zephiel said. "We cannot take chances here. They must be disposed of immediately."

As the nobles began to argue amongst themselves, Roy cast a glance at Lilina, whom just looked over at him with hopelessness in her eyes. Roy shrugged and decided to take a look at the map again. That's when an idea came to mind.

"Wait!" Roy suddenly belted out, which caused the members of the room to abandon their argument and focus their eyes on him. "Your Majesty, if I may, I might have the solution to this problem."

"You? You're not even a full-fledged marquess and you think you already have the answer?!" Erik shouted in disbelief.

"Marquess Laus, it is not your place to judge my son that way!" Eliwood exclaimed angrily.

"And it is not your son's place to have a voice in these meetings! I thought you would have educated him better than _that_, Eliwood."

"Now see here…!" Eliwood would have jumped out of his seat, but Hector clamped a firm hand on his friend's shoulder to restrain him. Then Zephiel moved to change the subject.

"Marquess Laus, know your place." He reprimanded him. "The same goes for you, Marquess Pherae. Roy, you may speak."

"Thank you." Roy sighed and began to disclose his plan. "My proposal is this: we need to get rid of them, but we can't let Tellius know about it. I say we bring them to someplace where no one would ever hear from them and then we take care of them there."

"And where is this place you have in mind?"

"The Land of Valor."

This got a loud reaction from the congregation.

"Valor?! Are you crazy!"

"That's the Dread Isle!"

"And that's where the Dragon's Gate is!"

"They say that people who go there, never return…"

"Then how are Marquess Ostia and Marquess Pherae still here?"

"Silence!" Zephiel belted out. "Continue on, Roy."

Roy ignored the glares from the other nobles and spoke again, "My father told me about Valor before. And I have a friend who can get me the map of that area. I…do have in mind to go back to the Dragon's Gate, but only to concentrate them there. That way, we can do away with them without anyone knowing. We can leave it up to the minds of the people to decide what happened to them."

Zephiel made no response, but just closed his eyes and nodded on his fist. After a few moments of silence, he said: "I like this plan. There are many dangers associated with it, but it is clever and has a clean way of getting rid of our enemies. The problem is, who's going to fight them at the Dragon's Gate?"

"I…I would do it, sir."

A gasp went up from the other nobles. Eliwood's jaw dropped at what he just heard.

"You're a brave man, Roy." Zephiel commented. "But you can't do this alone."

Lilina abruptly stood up. "I shall accompany him too!"

Another gasp from the crowd. Hector nearly fell out of his chair. Roy looked at Lilina gratefully, whom gave him a confident grin.

"Well, you have some support." Zephiel continued on. "I will go too. But three people alone isn't enough."

"Rest assured, Your Majesty, I can recruit some more soldiers." Roy proclaimed. "I'm sure we'll have enough by the end of the week."

"Very well then. I have no problems with this idea. Guinevere, I'll need you to tell one of my advisors to send out an 'invitation' to Ike and his group."

"Y-Yes, Brother…" Guinevere said softly.

"This meeting is adjourned!"

At this, all of the nobles rose from their seats and began to take their leave, save for Eliwood and Hector. Once they were sure they were the only ones left in the room, they faced their children with grave expressions on their faces.

"Roy, you cannot be serious about this." Eliwood seethed.

"You too, Lilina." Hector followed up. "I know I trained you to be strong, but I'd never take you to be this reckless!"

"I'm not being reckless!" Lilina insisted.

"Father, you don't understand!" Roy retorted. "We need to do this. Who knows what would happen if we let this situation persist. This could possibly save Lycia and maybe even Elibe!"

"No Roy, YOU don't understand!" Eliwood glared at his son. "It's too dangerous and there's no guaranteeing it'll work."

"But you're not even giving this a chance! You've been to the Dread Isle before and you came back okay! I doubt anything unexpected will happen. The dragons are gone and you said Nergal is history."

"Roy, look. I know the Dread Isle, and it may be safer now, but it's no vacation spot. There are still threats lurking around and I…I just…" Eliwood's voice began to tremble and he spoke in a softer tone. "I can't lose you, son. If something were to happen to you, my heart…it would not be able to handle it."

Roy's gaze softened when he saw the state his father was in. Without thinking, he placed a hand on his shoulder and gripped it reassuringly.

"Nothing will happen to me, Father." Roy stated. "I'll be fine." The redhead paused and looked at Hector. "Lord Hector, I'll keep Lilina safe."

Hector closed his eyes and shook his head, a deep chuckle rattling in his throat. "You better. If something happens to both of you, I'll strangle Eliwood."

The four shared a lighthearted laugh at this and Lilina kissed her father on the cheek. "We'll make it back alive. We promise."

"Well, I guess there's no stopping you." Eliwood sighed, but then smiled. "In that case, Hector and I will help you prepare. We'll be sure to supply you with reliable soldiers, weapons, whatever it means to ensure your survival."

Roy grinned. "Father…thank you."

* * *

"Ike, I said this once and I will say it again. This seems like a trap."

Ike narrowed his eyes at the piece of paper in his hand as the words of his tactician reached his ears.

"I'm aware of that, Soren." He replied. "We are in a strange place at a strange time and suddenly we have a summons to go someplace mysterious to meet with some people we've never even heard of before."

Soren scoffed. "So why are we still going along with it?"

"Yeah, boss." Mia spoke up, examining her fine silver sword. "Not saying we can't handle ourselves in case something happens, but…we're talking complete strangers here. We don't know how dangerous they could be."

"Look," Ike said. "Elincia already decided that we must answer this call and meet up with this organization. I'm just throwing this out there, but I think this has something to do with us coming in and launching these attacks."

"They're not gonna be so happy with us for doing that…" Mist bit her nails.

"Exactly. But at best, we could probably negotiate a peace treaty. After all, no one is for certain who sunk all our supply ships."

Titania furrowed her brows together as she looked out the porthole of the ship. The weather outside was all misty and gray, no beacon of light whatsoever as the ships were enveloped in a suffocating embrace of the fog. The paladin could not help but feel an eerie presence within her soul, as if this all was an omen of some sort. Ike noticed his advisor's quiet behavior and moved next to her.

"What's wrong, Titania?" He asked.

Titania exhaled deeply. "I don't know, Ike. Something about all this seems…off, but I can't quite place my finger on it. I mean, all these events are so sudden, it feels like someone is manipulating it all."

"Manipulating?" Mist reiterated questioningly. "How so?"

"Think about it: all the way these situations keep happening, how they're happening, none of us know why we're even conducting these attacks, nor are we for certain whether these people are the enemy. There's so many unexplained mysteries, that there has to be _something_ awry with this. Does anyone even feel the same?"

Though no one outwardly admitted it, Titania had hit the nail on the head. Something did seem off behind their decisions to suddenly begin attacking random small cities; it was way beyond their character to conduct these acts without some solid logical reason for it, or feeling even a shred of doubt about their actions right afterwards. Mia opened her mouth to respond, when suddenly the force from the ship hitting land nearly knocked everyone off their feet.

"We've landed." Ike commented. "And it looks like the others are here as well. Mercenaries, let's get going."

"Sir!" They responded in unison as they began to depart from the ship. On her way out, Mist looked back at the ship and was about to thank the captain for the ride, but stopped when she saw the cold look in his old gray eyes. The captain was a burly man, wearing a worn unbuttoned purple shirt and gray pants, and had a white bandana tied over his head. He bared his yellow teeth at her as he slid two fingers across his neck, before vanishing from sight. Mist paled as she recognized what that sign meant.

"Mist! Come on!" Ike called to her. "Elincia's and Micaiah's group are already here. What are you standing around for?"

"Ah! N-Nothing, sorry!" Mist apologized quickly as she ran to caught up with the others. Ike looked skeptical at her, but nonetheless just sighed and followed her to where everyone else was. Once all the groups were assembled together, Soren pulled out a map and laid it across the ground.

"I was able to obtain this map of the area from one of the pirates." Soren explained. "We are to be going to this sanctuary known as the Dragon's Gate, which lies in the middle of the Dread Isle."

"We'll need an emergency plan just in case we're attacked." Lucia suggested.

"We don't know what the interior of the Dragon's Gate looks like though." Titania mentioned.

"If we're attacked, then we'll fight back. Simple as." Edward casually said. Leonardo irately shook his head at his friend's recklessness.

"Not 'simple as', Edward." Sothe responded. "If we don't know the terrain, our chances of survival are next to nothing."

"Besides, we don't even know much about the people we're about to meet." Geoffrey said.

"Elincia," Ike whispered to the princess as an argument was beginning to brew. "We have absolutely no idea what we're getting ourselves into. Are you sure you still want to go about this?"

"Ike, I believe Tellius has committed some wrongs in harming these people." Elincia answered. "I feel we must respond to their call and hopefully resolve this whole matter as peacefully as possible."

"All right then." Ike nodded, and tried to get the attention of his soldiers. "Everyone! We will proceed as planned. We will go in, meet with these strangers at the Dragon's Gate, and get out, but keep your guard up. Do not attack unless you are attacked first. Understand?"

The members of the Crimean army shouted out for their response and without further hesitation, began to march behind Micaiah to their designated place. Ike watched the backs of the Black Knight and Ashnard and he was instantly reminded of Titania's suspicions.

"Something is definitely off about this_."_ A cold sweat suddenly broke out on the back of his neck.

After travelling for about what seemed like two hours and a half, most of the members in Ike's army were beginning to grow weary and/or impatient.

"Soren, are you sure you're holding that map right?" Mia asked. "We've been travelling this land for hours! I'm pretty sure we've passed that same tree twice."

"I've never been to this land before, how should I know whether I'm holding the map correctly?" Soren snapped. "Besides, I know we're going in the right direction because we're about to pass over this river that's located…here."

"I'm not sure how much more I can take of this…" Brom panted. "I feel like my legs gained a thousand pounds."

"Looks like it too…" Edward muttered.

"Shut up, Edward." Leonardo thwacked the back of his partner's head.

Sothe rolled his eyes at the two as he continued to walk beside Micaiah. Sanaki crossed her arms and attempted to keep pace with Sephiran. Geoffrey and Lucia rode side by side with each other, occasionally glancing at their liege. Elincia looked lost in thought as if she was contemplating what their army should do once they reach the Dragon's Gate, and sometimes a look of uncertainty would cross her features, like she questioned the motive for even going to this desolate island in the first place. The Dread Isle lived up to its name and the rumors accompanied with it. There seemed to be no form of human life, there was a constant fog that loomed over and between the spaces of the forests, moss hung over every tree in thick, green patches. Everything around them was dead silent, save for the sound of footsteps and hoofs clapping against the ground and occasionally someone stepping on a twig. Ike kept a vigilant eye out, waiting to see if there were enemies concealed in the trees or bushes, waiting for the perfect moment to lash out at them. But no such threat came on them and soon, they found themselves approaching a large and terrifying structure.

"The Dragon's Gate." Ike said aloud.

"It's so big…" Mist gasped.

"And old." Mia added.

"Centuries old actually." Soren spoke up. "They say that this very place was the site of a massive war known as the Scouring."

"Never heard of it." Sothe remarked.

"Must be a legend known only to the natives here." Micaiah wondered.

"Legend or not, we better get in there and not a moment too soon." Ike stepped forward. "Let's continue on."

Though he sounded pretty confident, Elincia could detect a faint amount of worry in Ike's voice. She gulped. "Why am I suddenly having a bad feeling about this?"

* * *

Back in the land near the Outer Realm Gate, Chrom's vigilante forces were just now awakening at first light. Just like the usual morning, Frederick assembled everyone for role call and began assigning different tasks for each member of the army. Kellam prepared the breakfast for everyone, unfortunately everyone was too caught up in wondering how an army-sized feast had suddenly appeared from nowhere, so most of the food wasn't even touched, much to Stahl's delight. Lissa and Maribelle restocked the medicine supply, Lucina walked with her father as they helped people gather up their belongings, and Cherche, Gregor, Cordelia, and Donnel helped disassemble the tents. Edith walked around the campsite himself, checking inventory and making sure everyone was doing their tasks correctly and not goofing around. Morgan attempted to emulate her father, but to her frustration, no one listened to her because of her childishness. So she did what she did best: play with Laurent's tomes while the mage was helping reorganize the bookshelf with his mother. Edith smiled wearily at the antics of his young daughter as he glanced at a map of Elibe again. He yawned as the lines of the continents seemed to blend together and he was about to doze off when somebody touched his shoulder. He started in alarm before realizing who it was.

"Chrom?" Edith mumbled. "When did you get here?"

"Been here actually." Chrom replied blandly. "What's with you? You're looking a little out of it today."

"Eh? I don't know what you're talking about. I'm fine."

"Don't try to lie your way out of this, Edi. You've been studying the entire night, haven't you?"

"Don't be ridiculous. I snuck some hours of sleep in last night."

"Oh yeah? How many?"

"Two."

"Edith…"

"Okay, fine I admit defeat. I overdid it last night. I just couldn't fall asleep no matter how hard I tried."

Chrom merely shook his head. "At least eat breakfast. It'd be detrimental if you passed out mid-battle and I'd have to carry you while fighting the enemy."

Edith grinned amusedly as he watched Chrom walk away to resume his duties, but his expression quickly dropped when he heard a loud crash accompanied with the sound of glass shattering.

"MORGAN!" came Laurent's anger-filled shout. Edith winced when he saw the young man's shattered spectacles.

"Sorry, Laurent!" Morgan squeaked, whom was already trying to make a break for it.

Edith wondered if now would be a good time to practice parenting, but then decided that there were other important matters that needed his attention and immediately stalked off. He passed through the campsite unnoticed, even when he stopped to swipe a sticky bun from Gaius's pastry stash, and just kept going on his way until he reached his destination alone. The Outer Realm Gate was still there, but it was inactive. Edith thought it strange; shouldn't his grandfather be waiting here by now? The tactician began to search around for Old Hubba, but the old man was no where near the gate. Frustration and anxiety welled up in the young man as he frantically looked around and called out for his grandfather. But there was no response, just the dead silence in the air and not even a sign of the kooky old man. Edith, having given up searching, faced the giant gate and glared irately at it. Without thinking, he extended one arm forward, closed his eyes in concentration, and began to chant. It wasn't a chant foreign to him, but it wasn't one he even bothered to memorize. Yet it came pouring out of his lips so naturally, that one would think he was a trained professional in his practice. The gate slowly started to glow until a white light flashed incandescently from the inside, opening the various portals to the Other Worlds. Edith slowly opened his eyes and allowed himself a bitter smile at his accomplishment. If his grandfather could see him now…

"He set me up to this, I'm sure." Edith muttered. "Then again, he's no where in sight. I wonder where he could have gotten to."

"Ah, Edith! There you are!" Edith turned around only to see Chrom running towards him. "Everyone just finished their duties and we're now about to go over the battle plans, so we need you with us. Eh? Where's Old Hubba?"

"I don't know." Edith responded, annoyed. "I already tried looking around for him, but he isn't here. Heaven knows where he could have skipped off to."

Chrom grit his teeth in exasperation. "That man…I swear. So you opened the gate?"

"Yes. As my grandfather would say, it's a skill that has been practiced in my family for generations. I hate to admit it, but it actually came in handy this time."

"Huh. Interesting. Anyways, let's head back now so we can hurry with the debriefing."

"Aye. In a moment, Roy of Pherae will be needing our help."

Chrom stopped dead in his tracks. "You already knew that?"

Edith pointed to his forehead. "Yes, Grandfather showed me in his orb. Compared to Ike's army, the man is completely outnumbered. He'll need our assistance once the battle begins."

"Hm…all right, but save it for the war council. Everyone will need to hear this as well."

Edith nodded and began to follow Chrom back to the campsite. When he turned around to face the gate, thoughts of his grandfather's whereabouts swirled in his mind and the uneasiness in his soul nearly caused bile to rise up in his throat.

* * *

The inside of the Dragon's Gate was just as disconcerting and murky as the outside. The atmosphere was dense, the humidity in the air was suffocating, and there was hardly any light save for rays of sun beaming through tiny cracks in the walls. As Ike and his army began to advance forward, the door behind them suddenly slammed shut, startling nearly everybody. After a few seconds of paralyzing terror, the group regained their composure and continued to walk on. Mist walked as close to her brother as she could without tripping him, while others tried to follow her example and stay shoulder to shoulder with their comrades, just to prevent getting lost. The more Ike walked through the endless corridor, the more nervous he started to become. He felt…trapped, like the walls were slowly closing in on him. Who would ever want to meet in a place as dusky as this?

"Ike, there's light up ahead." Soren said.

Indeed there was, albeit not a lot. Torches gleamed faintly in their placeholders, allowing the group to get a better view of the interior. Ike felt a little relieved to say the least, and exhaled deeply.

"That must be where they're waiting for us." Ike said. "Let's go check it out."

The group wordlessly nodded and entered the wide open room. Though they could see the ground beneath their feet again, tensions from before still hadn't ceased. Around them were four different halls, each leading to one enclosed room. Some people were curious as to what lay behind those doors, but chose to suppress those feelings and keep on moving. Right when they were about in the middle of the room, Ike suddenly stopped with the others quickly mimicking him. The blue-haired man glanced around left and right, but there was no one to be seen.

"Where is everybody?" Mist asked.

Ike shrugged and slowly took long strides forward. "…Hello? Is anyone here? Hello!"

"Ike…" Elincia uttered worriedly.

"This is very suspicious." Titania mumbled.

In that instant, Ike thought he saw a shadow creep in the darkness and cautiously moved closer to it.

"We're the mercenaries you wanted to meet with!" Ike called again. "Who are you? Speak!"

Faster than anyone could even blink, there was a faint sling of a blade from the darkness with enough accuracy to sever Ike's jugular vein. But it did no such thing, instead just resting against Ike's neck, pressed hard enough to draw blood. A small gasp erupted from the army. Soren instinctively grabbed his tome, ready to attack the person who dared tried to kill his friend. However Titania grabbed his shoulder firmly, silently telling him to hold. Ike was surprised, but he did not let it show. In fact, his eyebrows narrowed when he saw a young red-haired man emerging from the shadows, his hands clutched tightly around the handle of his sword.

"I'm not a dog." He seethed.

Ike glared menacingly at him. "You attack me in the shadows. What kind of coward are you?"

"I wouldn't be talking if I were you. My sword has a tendency to get real…hot."

Ike suddenly felt a searing pain on his neck and quickly yanked himself away with a pained grunt. He touched two fingers where the blade was and felt a burning sensation in the skin. He looked back at Roy to see smoke coming off from the weapon.

"Your sword was just on fire?" Ike said through clenched teeth.

Roy nodded unimpressed and swung his sword around until the tip was barely poking Ike's chest.

"You come to my continent with no warning and start killing off my father's citizens. I cannot allow you to live when you threaten to destroy the lives of others. What is the purpose behind your actions? Are you trying to prove you're the stronger ones by using innocent people as your pawns?"

Whatever hopes for peace Ike held immediately vanished when he heard this and he suddenly acquired a longing to run his sword right through Roy's heart. At that moment, Ike started to believe those things he heard about Elibe. Maybe they really were the ones who started this conflict between themselves and Tellius.

"You're going to accuse me of doing wrong when your nation is doing no better?" Ike muttered. "Lives were lost aboard the ships that are now at the bottom of the sea, those same ships your own people sunk themselves. Heh, the hypocrisy in your words astound me. In fact, I believe nobles like your father are the ones who wish to brew up all this conflict just to prove who's stronger."

At this, Roy felt a nerve inside him snap. "Damn you!"

The two drew their swords and were about to go for each other's throats when a loud roaring in the building suddenly got both of their attentions. Everyone shifted their focus away from the turmoil and tried looking around for the source of the commotion. Roy felt his blood run cold.

"A…a dragon?" He gulped. "But Father said there weren't any…"

"Dragons in this place?" Ike questioned. "That sound…it couldn't possibly be dragons."

From afar, an old man sat hunched over behind a wall. He clucked his tongue in dissatisfaction at the unfolding events and returned his gaze to the orb cradled in his hands.

"Having two enemies going straight for each other is very cliché." He whispered to himself. "I say we 'shake' things up a bit."

A violent tremor suddenly rattled the structures of the Dragon's Gate. Dust from the ceilings came raining down on everyone, the walls and tiles were beginning to crack open, and the vibrations in the ground were so strong, that no one could keep their feet. Roy lost his balance and ended up falling on top of Ike, sending both men plummeting to the ground. Even then, the trembling would not let up, and it took everyone a good while before they realized what it was.

"EARTHQUAKE!"

* * *

**A/N: ****Just throwing this out there, I haven't been able to play Awakening (lack of 3DS), any of the Tellius games (lack of money) and much of the Binding Blade (lack of patience). So if any characters are OOC, I apologize and I'll get around to correcting them. Next chapter is a work in progress, but I can't say for certain when it'll be published. You know: school, sports, applying for college, life...all that good stuff. Not sure where writing comes into things. Anyways, see you next time, readers!**


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